Let’s not go there…

I’ve been doing a bit of research lately, and I’ve come across an author and university professor who’s written a lot on the topic into which I am looking. Thinking that maybe I could communicate with him some way and ask a few questions, I did a quick online search and found his Twitter account. 

Now, I dropped Twitter back when I dropped Facebook.  I still have the account, but haven’t touched the thing since last June. But I clicked on his account thinking that maybe I could find a way to contact him.

And from what I saw, I came away more encouraged that my decision to drop Twitter was (and still is) correct. With the exception of an automated program that tracked and then tweeted his follower statistics (how many followed, how many unfollowed) and one pinned tweet about a book he’d written, every single tweet he wrote or retweeted was about attack politics or a disdain for organized religion.

Ironically, dropping social media was in great part me stepping away from the fray in these matters, so here you might think I’m wading back in.  But it’s not really about what the man was posting specifically, it was about the trap of the mind I was seeing – someone who was so immersed in a culture of outrage that his public persona just basically turned me off to even trying to contact him. And sure, this might be to my loss.  I bet he’s actually a delightful and interesting person. But something in me tells me that there’s this lingering undercurrent, and I’d prefer not to risk it.

And he’s not much different than a lot of people in the social media realm. They express themselves, but with a seemingly single-minded obsession. I just want to say, “Hey, let it go. Calm down and take the time to see what’s good in the world and others.”  I know how it is, because there were times I felt I was teetering there on that same edge.  Thinking back on my own online persona, I remember that I did my best to control it and mix it up (at least I had bike rides to throw in there), but honestly, it probably occupied my mind more than it should have.

And so here I am, 10 months later and much happier for leaving it behind.  I found that (especially with Twitter), what I was seeing was driving how I was thinking and feeling.  Even if I considered myself more thoughtful about issues, I found that the “issues” really weren’t even worth the thinking.  I mean, not to that extent.

So I can step back now and see a bit of a balance.  Sure, you are your own advocate when it comes to what you consume, but it’s a dangerous edge to walk. It’s hard to come up with a completely pure timeline of puppy dogs and kittens these days. Even the sites and people I thought were safe would sometimes slip it in there.  And of course, there was me, doing the same to others.

In the end, it’s probably best to stay away in the first place.  I’m still considering advertising my writing here on social media, but I’m biding my time with that.  I’m almost shy about publicizing anything at all – I write mainly to establish the habit of writing itself, clarify my thoughts on things I think interesting or important, and just generally as a hobby that I like to do. This kind of stuff is much too verbose for Facebook – TL;DR for sure. I want people here who might not mind reading it though, and maybe even thinking about it too.

And perhaps, because it’s not limited to 240 characters, people can get a better idea of where I’m going with it all.  One thing though that I don’t want to do – I don’t want to waste it all on anger and outrage. There may still be times when I slip a bit, but it’s remarkably freeing to not go there, and I’m hoping a lot more people catch on.